Archive for October, 2009

Have you ever taken a walk along the beach to collect shells and found a gray, flat disk about 3 inches wide? If so, chances are what you found was the “shell” of a small animal known as a sand dollar that had been washed up by the tide.

Of course, the sand dollar looked much different when it was alive than it did when you found it. sand dollars live in shallow coastal waters.

A living sand dollar’s body is covered with many tiny spines that form a purplish, furlike cover. By means of its spines, it pushes itself through the sand.

The sand dollar’s mouth is a small hole in the center of its flat underside. It swallows sand and digests the tiny bits of food contained in it.

The spines drop off when the animal dies.

Not all sand dollars are round. Some may contain slits, or even be notched. The notched ones are often called “arrowhead” sand dollars. – Dick Rogers

The osprey is a large bird of prey that resembles the eagle. A full-grown osprey may be 2 feet long with a wing-spread of nearly 6 feet.

It is dark brown above, white below, with enough white on its head to be easily mistaken for the bald eagle.

Osprey are found near rivers, lakes and sea-coasts all over the world. A common name for the osprey is “fish hawk” because it feeds almost entirely on fish.

Osprey

It fishes by flying over the water. When it spots a fish swimming near the surface it dives feet-first, hits water with a great splash and seize the fish with its long, sharp talons.

Sea eagles often rob the osprey of its catch. The eagle is not a very good fisherman. When it spies an osprey with a fish, it swoops down and forces the osprey higher and higher until the osprey tires and drops the fish.

The przewalski’s, or Przhevalski’s horse, is the last remaining species of true wild horses living today. (The so-called “wild” American mustang is descended from domestic horses that later escaped, so it is not a true wild horse).

Przewalski’s Horse

A Przewalski’s horse can be easily identified by its stocky body, short legs, rusty red coat and bushy mane that usually stands upright, instead of falling over the way manes do on domestic horses.

It has a dark “donkey” stripe along its back.

Today Przewalski’s horses survive only in small numbers in Central Asia and in some zoos.

This rare, pony-size horse is similar to horses that cavemen painted on the walls of their caves thousands of years ago.

They hunted the ancestors of this ancient horse just as they hunted mammoths, for food.

It was a long time before anyone thought of using horses for riding. – Dick Rogers